We were talking about color combinations and I got lost!

Here is a picture of my stock tank with valerian and mint growing in it. I was considering plopping a coral colored rose in there. Don't know if it would work. Our other photo thread is quite long so we could post more here if you like.

The valerian will soon get tired of the heat and need to be cut back. I usually throw some impatiens in there for late summer color. The tank gets afternoon sun from around 2:00 on. The rose would need to be a climber. A friend of mine has one in mind but I'm hesitant. It would have to be a very intense, deep coral to suit me. I'm in no hurry.

I am here to enable you toward adding a coral rose! That would be lovely in there! (Though I admit, I have never grown roses in containers, only in the ground)... some additional input from others would be helpful.

Thanks, Brenda. I have never grown roses in containers either and I'm not sure this tank has good enough drainage.

Well, there's one way to find out... give it a try! (I'm here to enable...)

I don't know a lot about roses but I have always loved Tropicana, an intensely saturated orange or coral. I grew it once and really liked it.

I would guess (being a Rose remover myself) that if you other plants are getting the nutrients they need in the container, that a climbing Rose would grow well too. I would get a Rose that was hardy an extra zone (or 2) below yours since the roots in the container will get colder over the Winter than they would in the ground.

Thanks. That makes sense. Although, the mint that is in it really was supposed to be an annual but wintered over anyway. It is only 64 degrees here today at 3:00! Drizzle and clouds all day.

Okay, I have now planted the three roses out front. Falstaff looked almost dead when I put it in. It lived in a flowerpot all winter and probably dried out too much at times. Now it looks almost completely dead except one of the stems is still green. I can't decide whether to pull it out and put in Tess of the d'Ubervilles or wait a few more days to see if it recovers.
Geoff Hamilton looks quite healthy, even has a little new growth and a bud. Wenlock went in today. It is very small but healthy.
But, I started reading up on these roses and now I am worried that they will be way to large for the space where I have them. Right now they look almost lost though. Tomorrow I will start adding ground covers around them. This will be a great opportunity to try out a whole bunch of ground covers and to see what works. I also have 2 purple daturas and 6 ornamental kales and cabbages that I will plant so the space won't look so empty. I mulched all 3 roses with compost real well.
I realize that design of spaces is not my strong suit. There is so much to know! Objects don't stay the same size! The ultimate size of the objects isn't even known -- at least by me. In fact -- who knows who big David Austin roses get in Los Alamos? Probably someone in the rose society.
It reminds me of a cartoon I once saw in the New Yorker. The pharoh was showing of his 3 newly constructed pyramids to his wife. And she is pointing and saying, I think they would look better over there.
That's me and the rose and clematis bushes.

With the roses I imagine you could train them and cut them back to fit the space. Some roses are more amenable to training than others. Greenjay would probably know much more about that than I do. Or someone on the rose forum.

I believe Mint is one of those plants that, if you don't live in the NE US, is really a perrenial.

Boy, is mint a perennial in most of the US. It could easily make a very fragrant and colorful lawn. Hmm. There's a thought. Mowing the lawn would be a lot more fragrant -- not that grass smells so badly. But mint would be heavenly. And if you went on vacation and it got out of hand, you could make a lot of dried mint for mint tea or use it fresh for mint jelly. Yum!

A mint yard would be nice but I suspect it needs more shade and water than we usually have in these parts. Oregano, like Doc has, would be a better choice, probably.

Perhaps so. I need to look into all those oregano types. Mint and oregano are relatives. They have a lot in common but mint grows better for me than culinary oregano.

You could use Mint in the shady spots and Oregano in full Sun.

Lemon balm is a mint and would like to take over any shady spot. It grows better than my mint mint. Kind of tall for a groundcover, though.

Yes I have a wild batch of lemon mint, that I hope to put under some kind of control this summer ( put in a flower pot.) I agree that it is too tall for a lawn.
Actually, it will be a while before I remove my lawn. I have a whole lot more that needs to be done first.

roybird, I think a coral colored rose would look fantastic there. I would also follow the advice of selecting a hardier rose than the zone you are in. I bet you could squeeze something else in there to give some texture all season too.

Back to color combinations, here is the match that I think looks wrong in the garden. But it looks pretty good in pictures, go figure! I have a difficult time getting details with this camera. It really is time to upgrade. Think I bought this in 2002.

Actually, not a bad picture. The planting perhaps isn't intense enough in color to look good. For me, it is okay and probably the hummingbirds would approve, but yes, It needs something. Perhaps a large bush behind it to hide the white of the house. Today I saw some orange and red combinations that I really loved, but didn't have my camera. Darn! I can tell you that when I switched from our approximately 2002 camera to what they have today, DH and I were amazed at how our photo quality improved. And they have continued to get better since we bought ours.
We sure are good at driving up your expenses aren't we? See the compost thermometer url on the confessions 4+1 thread ( I think.)

That is why I always carry my camera with me paj! You never know when you will need it. Just like yesterday when I saw this pelican. Seems strange to see them here. I associate them with Florida. Maybe they migrate here for the summer.

Yes, I need to take my camera everywhere, but I worry that I will lose it.

Oh, cool! A pelican in Denver! They do migrate and land where there is food and/or water. We once had one land at our municipal pond here in Los Alamos. I remember seeing it in total amazement. The symbol of my home state, Louisiana, is a pelican, but I had never seen one here. We have ducks in our municipal pond and some times wild ducks hang out for a while, but this bird was way different from what we were used to. In time the whole town noticed and it hit the local paper which is desperate for something more interesting that the county council meetings.
It seems our pond wasn't big enough for the bird to get a run at taking off. He ( or she) kept trying and couldn't seem to make it. The town began to worry but eventually, lo, it was able to gain enough speed to take off. Everyone in town was relieved but in those days I hadn't discovered digital photography. Darn it!
You are right, I must take my camera everywhere.

Nice pelican pic!!!

Thanks bsavage! And paj, it is cool to know the pelicans are in New Mexico as well. I remember now that I saw some grey colored pelicans in Evergreen, CO a few years ago. I assume that they come here for cooler weather. There are so many Canadian Geese here all summer.

Migratory birds stop all along the western flyway -- wherever there is food or water. Pelicans are very rare in Los Alamos, but I bet there are plenty at the Bosque del Apache bird sanctuary about 150 miles south of here. They have consciously maintained a wetland there and many birds stop there on their way south, especially sandhill cranes. This wetland is among those which tried to establish whooping cranes on the western fly way. It didn't work. The project was finally given up, but the Sandhill cranes, Canadian geese and numerous other birds stop at Bosque del Apache on their way to their southern habitats. Probably some pelicans do as well. Bosque del Apache near Socorro, NM is well worth visiting if you are a birder. Luckily the pelicans have a longer stretch of water so they can get into flight without difficulty there. At least I hope they do. I have never seen a pelican there, but I have only been there once.

I forgot to add another pic. Here is the pelican after I got too close. Goodnight.

How cool that there is a pelican in Denver!!!

Great shots, plutodrive!

I do like seeing the pelicans. Plutodrive always carries a camera and that is so great! I am a little over-protective of my cameras, I think. Today I bought a smaller case for my new camera so I can carry it around more easily. I have a big case for it that holds all kinds of stuff but this one is for mobility. It cost me $15 at the used camera co-op. I think it was a little high priced but just go try to buy new ones! Plutodrive, the colors are on penstemons, right? You might be able to get a lavender-blue campanula or agastache that could muscle in with them. Those are fairly xeric plants. And there are always the sages. You see Russian sage (which gets pretty big) all over the place here. And there's always lavender! If you wanted to stay with hot colors you might want some yellow pine leaf penstemon. I think those reds are difficult next to each other but if you fill in with something they both go with you can sort of smooth it out. Do you have any chocolate flowers? They are yellow and very xeric. Yellow ice plant?

Yes they are penstemon. The orange one is P. pinifolius and the taller one is P. Firebird. I may move the red to another area and use one of your ideas like another agastache. I like those a lot. I also have been wanting to get the yellow pinifolius. Or maybe a new grass? That would make a good filler to mix in there. Already have a yellow ice plant right around there. I tried to sow chocolate flowers last season but the pill bugs kept eating them. I still have some seeds left so I can try them again. They smell amazing.

This is the Firebird.

What is a pill bug?

We had them in Illinois but I'm not sure if they are in Arizona. Here are some pics. http://images.google.com/images?q=Pill+Bug&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=z75KSuWPKeCFmQfPz4DbCQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=815519297 I used to think that pill bugs were harmless but they can eat your seedlings.

Gorgeous penstamons, plutodrive.

Oh, yes, I've seen those bugs before, back in Western New York. They are quite prehistoric looking, aren't they? Thanks for the info...

They are not very tasty for a crustacean though.

You've tried them?

;)

Nope. Just relating what I've heard.

Ah, good to know! Those pill bugs always seem so gentle and innocuous but Really they are not nice. Nor nice to eat. They probably are good at loosening up compacted soil or turning compost, slowly.

Rollypolly (pill) bugs have been great helpers in my garden breaking down my leaf mulch but now that recent reports indicate that they have turned on us I guess I shall have to start squishing them sigh. On the up side, I saw my first white faced black hornet today YEAH! I was worried cuz I hadn't seen any yet and I need them to eat the caterpillers in the green ash trees. All good guy bees present and accounted for in dahlianut's garden, including the leaf-cutter bees who are merrily clipping up the John Cabot rose to make their nests ^_^

I have those leaf-cutter bees, too. I think there are at least 3 kinds of bees around the garden , now, with the lamb's ear and lavender blooming.